The White House backed Shubin’s statement about Putin’s corruption

The statement of the representative of the US Ministry of Finance about the Russian president Vladimir Putin being corrupt “the best way” reflects the position of the US administration. This was stated by the spokesman of the White House John Ernest at the daily briefing, reports Reuters.

The fact that the Russian leader is corrupt was stated by US Treasury officer Adam Shubin, who oversees the department’s issues of sanctions. According to him, the US government knows about it for “many, many years”.

“We have seen how he [Putin] enriches his friends and closest allies, and pushes those who is not considered as a friend away from the use of state assets. Whether it’s Russia’s energy wealth or other government contracts, he gives them to those who can be useful to him, and excludes others. In my opinion, this is a live picture of corruption” – said Shubin in his interview for BBC’s film about Putin.

In turn, the president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told British reporters that “none of these questions requires an answer, because they are pure fiction”. Putin refused to give an interview to BBC.

After the release of the film, the Kremlin called Shubin’s statement slander. “The content of BBC’s material is pure fiction and slander, that is baseless,” – said Peskov.

“It would have been an irresponsible journalist’s exercise, if not for an official comment,” – said Peskov. He also suggested that the US Ministry of Finance “submit any evidence to show that the statements of the official representative are not unfounded slander”. The press secretary also doubted that Shubin’s statement will spoil relations between the two countries that are “not in the best shape”.